And Finally

A jury has determined a document penned in 2014 by Aretha Franklin and found beneath a sofa cushion years later to be a legitimate will. The 'Queen of Soul', who passed away without officially drafted instructions for her multimillion-dollar estate in 2018, left two handwritten wills which her sons

Ripper and Co, a bar in Portsmouth inspired by murderers including Jack the Ripper, has sparked controversy and complaints. The venue, due to open later this month, has been criticised for making light of the Ripper's infamous 1888 murders.

A US property developer is building houses solely for what he calls "patriotic Americans", with the stipulation that the Stars and Stripes flag must always be displayed. The estate, known as 1,776 Gastonia, will feature 43 homes exclusively available to individuals aged 55 and above. The starting pr

A man caught on video scratching his and his girlfriend's name into the Colosseum has told prosecutors he had no idea how old it was. Bristol man Ivan Danailov Dimitrov, 27, etched "Ivan + Hayley 23" into one of the walls of the nearly 2,000-year-old monument using a key, the BBC reports.

A judge who posted TikTok videos lip-syncing to rap songs with explicit lyrics while wearing his judicial robes is facing disciplinary action. Judge Gary N. Wilcox, a criminal judge in New Jersey, USA, posted around 40 videos under the alias "Sal Tortorella" over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023,

Police are on the hunt for an unusual serial thief who has stolen metal grates from dozens of urinals in public parks. At least 37 urinals across 16 parks in the Japanese city of Sapporo have been hit by the thief, whose motivation is unclear, TV station UHB reports.

A law enforcement department has been caught allegedly handing out badges and credentials in exchange for bribes. Sheriff Scott Howard Jenkins, 51, of Culpeper County, Virginia – an elected official – is accused of appointing various men as auxiliary deputy sheriffs in exchange for cash

A man has been jailed for more than six years over his green energy ponzi scheme, which claimed to transform cow manure into energy, defrauding investors of over $8.7 million (£6.9m). From March 2014 through December 2019, Ray Brewer stole the $8,750,000 from investors by claiming to build ana

Around 30 kilograms of a suspicious white powder rained down on the French countryside after a tourist plane was intercepted by a fighter jet. The fighter jet was dramatically mobilised after the plane entered restricted airspace in the vicinity of a nuclear power plant, CBS reports.

South Koreans grew younger yesterday after a new law came into effect that uses the internationally recognised system of age calculation. The law supersedes one of the country's traditional methods, where individuals are considered a year old at birth, accounting for the time spent in the womb.

An Italian teacher who was dismissed after being absent for 20 out of 24 years of her service at schools around Venice has pledged to share her version of events. Cinzia Paolina De Lio was terminated from her position in 2017 after returning to work for four months, prompting a flurry of complaints.

A janitor at a laboratory who was irritated by a beeping alarm on a fridge is alleged to have switched it off and caused the destruction of decades of scientific research. The mega fridge at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York, stored cell cultures and other samples at minu

A prominent academic who researches honesty has been accused of falsifying research results. Dr Francesco Gino, a behavioural scientist at Harvard Business School, has been placed on administrative leave following the allegations, which first emerged in The Chronicle of Higher Education, reports FT.

Two lawyers and a law firm who cited fake court cases generated by ChatGPT have been fined $5,000 (around €4,600 or £3,900). Judge P. Kevin Castel, in Manhattan, said there was nothing "inherently improper" about using AI to help write a legal filing, but lawyers have a responsibility to

Bosses who tried to use a fake priest to trick workers into making "confessions" of wrongdoing have been ordered to pay nearly €130,000 in back wages and damages. Employees at the Taqueria Garibaldi restaurant in Sacramento, California said they were introduced by the owner to a priest who woul